Hyundai Motor Co To Replace 82,000 Vehicle Battery Systems

South Korea's motoring giant Hyundai has been decided to replace the battery packs of 82,000 Kona Electrics, the battery cells built at LG Energy Solution's plant in China.

The recall was due to the reported cases of more than ten fires involving the Kona EV across the globe.

Hyundai also filed a recall affecting 1,314 Ioniq EVs, 25,083 Kona Electrics and 302 Elec City buses sold in Korea, and will affect likewise models sold globally according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The ministry said that their investigation is not yet completed and will further conduct a thorough investigation.

"Though the investigation on the fires is ongoing, Hyundai Motor decided to replace BSAs of the vehicles in order to eradicate potential risks regarding customers' safety," the company said in a conference.

The recalled models were made between September of 2017 and March of last year.

In a statement, LG Energy Solution, the batteries' manufacturer, said that Hyundai Motor mishandled their suggestion in a battery management system that would prevent the fire risks.

Meanwhile, The South Korean carmaker has been suspecting the manufacturer errors in the battery cells. Both parties have been confronting the cause of the fire.

All the recalls and replacements of the batteries are set to cost the automaker an estimated $900 million.

The said cost will be echoed in the fourth quarter of the year 2020 of Hyundai Motor's earnings.

Hyundai Motor and LG Chem's latest shares fell to 3.7% and 1.9%, respectively, on the Wednesday afternoon trade compared to a 2% fall for the broader market.

Hyundai is not the only carmaker that has a mass recall of electric vehicles made this year.

Tesla has had to recall 135,000 Model X and Model S after regulators see that the models' touchscreen displays could fail and risk safety implications.